Nov 30, 2011

Erye Penninsula - 30th November 2011

Time to catch up on 10 days, ....... After leaving Stenhouse Bay in the Innes National Park we drove across to Warooka to try and find some lizards, these are not the crawling live variety but arty crafty replicas made from road kill by a talented lady by the name of Kylie. Unfortunately we couldn't track her down but we did find out that the Minlaton Visitor Centre had some on display, it was also the town that friends Rob & Glenda have a property that we had previously stayed with some other Bushtracker owners after the Quorn Muster, Time for another visit we thought.

Rob and Glenda were out sailing the day we arrived so we set up camp and made ourselves at home introducing ourselves to some other Farmers who dropped in to borrow or replace items, Friendly lot all of them, but we did think we were just being checked out as to who we were and what we were doing. Late in the afternoon R&G arrived home and joined us for happy hour which then turned into a BBQ dinner. Next day I jumped in the Harvester with Rob as he had to take it over to a neighbouring property, it was the 1st time i had been in one of these machines and was very interesting, i also got to see the B Double Semi get filled up with 40+ tonnes of barley. After that it was back for a coffee and then Geoff and myself filled the vans tanks with fresh rainwater and said our goodbyes.















Reaping at Minlaton

Geoff and I consulted as to which way we would head towards Mambray Creek which is part of the Mt Remarkable National Park. The distance was to far to travel in the day so we chose Bunyip Park at Koolunga to be camp for the night. The camp area is in a lovely corner of the town with plenty of tree's and bird life, All the bikes came off the Vans and we checked out a few trails, that was until Geoff's bike broke a chain so a tow back to camp and we set about doing a bush fix. To make sure all was OK we rode around the town and found the pub so called in and had a couple of frothy's, Friendly people, Cold Beer all was good.

Next morning Vickie and i rode over to a Junk Shop and i could not believe my eyes, there laying on the veranda was a dual bike carrier in excellent condition! Geoff and i had discussed many times about how i should go about making a bike carrier when i get home and here was one almost exactly how we imagined it to be. $30 later and it was mine and we had cable tied it onto the draw bar of the van. Geoff kept muttering about how lucky i was ..... and yep i have to agree.






Yacka Picnic & Camp Ground

Next day called into Yacka and checked out a lovely picnic / camp ground, lots of Mosaic tables and tidy grounds showed that the town had great pride. We were on the road that we had previously travelled when we went to Quorn and we knew that we would be passing by Snowtown and Stone Hut, so they were stops for morning coffee and the Hut for a bakery lunch. We all ate our fill and also bought some take away, were not sure how we ended up paying less and having more, just more luck on our part i guess.

Infamous Snowtown Bank - known for the bodies in the barrells

Mambray Park was disappointing for us, we do not have a Parks Pass so had to cough up $26 for a night, any extra night was an extra $17 which we were prepared to pay but after getting chatted for riding the bike on some of the tracks we decided it was not for us. Our mates have a parks Pass and needed to catch up on some washing so we split with the intention of catching up again down the road. Vickie wanted to visit Melrose so that required another drive up over the Range, no drama's for the Toyota Ute, 3rd gear all the way up the steep windy road. Melrose was also a disappointment, the Blacksmith Store that G&V wanted us to check out was simply a cafe and closed, their was an excellent Mountain Bike shop with some stunning bikes that i checked out, even taking one for a ride, very nice!

With that part of the journey being a waste of time we headed to Wilmington and back over the Range and down to Bush Bay at Fitzgerald Bay, here we would sit for a couple of days and wait for G&V to turn up. Being on the coast we were copping the wind but not a lot we can do about it, Port Gibbon was our next overnight stop, we had been here a few times before but never stayed due to the amount of seaweed usually about, today that wasn't an issue and all we required was space to park up. My back & hips were not behaving themselves so some pain relief in the form of prescribed medicine was taken, the mistake i made was then to follow it up with some Scotch & Cokes, mixing both was not the smartest move as i then lost 9 hours of my life not really being aware of what i was saying or doing.
Port Neil Jetty




Port Gibbon Beach Shelter



Mick wearing Scotty's NIMBIN Jacket

Next day we called in at Port Neil and then onto Cape Hardy, another spot we had not stopped at before turned out to be a lovely camp overlooking a sandy beach. We met another family who came over and shared our camp fire, they were 'local's' and told us about the Eucalypti Gallery back at Port Neil so next day it was back the 10klms to check it out. The owner was there but in the process of packing up and moving overseas but he did take the time to explain the process required for coating the leaves and other objects, suffice to say it was very involved. The girls bought some items and then we were back on the track this time heading to Lipson Cove.







Cape Hardy Beach

Being a Sunday the camp sites were all full but luck was again on our side as a family was leaving in the afternoon so we both were able to position the vans with plenty of space. The family we met at Cape Hardy had given us some Blood Worms and we were keen to finally get the rods out and try for some whiting. I managed to catch 3 and Vickie caught one, some young fella's gave some fillets to Geoff in return for lending them some mineral turps so between us we had enough fillets for a good feed of fish & chips for dinner for all of us. One of the young guys told us he had a scary moment with what he described as a 2-3mt white shark, close enough that it bit his flipper off ...... we are 50/50 on the truth of all this but he did appear to be shaken by it.




Geoff and Vickie were keen to check out Port Lincoln National Park whereas we decided to call into Louth Bay and visit Lawrie who has an excellent display of shells and critters plus sells smoked fish. Surprise !! Geoff and Vickie had beaten us and Geoff walked out with packets of smoked fish in his hands. After a long talk with Lawrie and saying our goodbyes again to G and V we checked out the camp area only to find it full. No worries we changed plans and headed to Sheringa Beach instead, here the wind continues to blow, an attempt at fishing yesterday only produced seaweed, today things are not much different.











Sheringa

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Mick & Vicki.
Really enjoying following your travels, as we are stuck here in Kal :( Loved the photo's
Dave & Shell

Mick said...

G'day Dave & Shell, nice to hear that your still checking out our site and getting some enjoyment from it.

'stuck' in Kal .. It's not that long ago you were tripping around USA .. got to take the good with the bad :-)

Unknown said...

Hi Mick,
Yes you are right, but that is probably why we feel this way!
We have 4 more months til we head off :)

Dave & Shell

Nikki said...

I enjoyed your travel story and the photos made me feel like I was right there, especially in the harvester. It reminded me of the time I sat in a two story mining vehicle. I like experiences like that.
Travel safe.

Mick said...

Hi Nikki, your experiences of riding a motorbike around Australia sounds more exciting than riding in a Harvester, safe travels to you.

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